Another BB Interview

[Mr_Magoo]

You’ve seen interviews like this before in other bodybuilding publications, although the veracity of those other interviews is often questionable. We thought it would be interesting to do a real interview with an up and coming bodybuilder, so we found one that would get us the straight poop on the sport as long as we didn’t reveal his identity. For the purposes of this interview, we’ll call our mysterious interviewee Mr. X.

AE: Alright lets get through the basic questions or at least those you can answer. Ok? Lets start with your name.

Mr. X: I can’t tell you my name, I have to remain anonymous

AE: Ok, I can respect that. Can you give me your basic statistics?

Mr. X: Close to 6 feet tall; about 315 off-season. I’ve been competing at around 250-260 but this year I want to come in at around 265.

AE: Ok, now can you tell us anything specific about your bodybuilding career? Contest wins?

Mr. X: For reasons of anonymity, I can’t reveal anything too specific. Lets just say I am a top level NPC amateur competitor and barring any injuries or unforeseen accidents I should have my pro-card in the next 2 to 5 years.

AE: I guess you can’t tell me your age, right?

Mr. X: I can tell you that I am in my late 20s.

AE: Since this interview is anonymous, I am assume you will be cool with talking about the pharmaceutical aspects of your career

Mr X: Sure, you can ask me anything you want.

AE: At what age did you begin taking steroids?

Mr. X: I was 22. I trained naturally for about 5 years, making decent gains for about 4 of those 5 years. I got up to around 225 naturally, fairly lean, I stayed at that weight for almost a year despite all my attempts to break through that plateau. I am ashamed of how much money I spent on various supplements trying to break through. I used to take l-arginine, smilax, dibencozide, everything you can think of. Hotstuff man, I took Hotstuff.

AE: What prompted you to start taking drugs?

Mr. X: My eyes were opened to what was going on in the world of bodybuilding. I had a long talk with an older professional bodybuilder who basically laid it all out for me. Apparently I had made an impression with my natural physique and I wanted to go further. All around me were guys who weren’t giving it half what I was, yet they were twice my size. I was pissed. But then I started training with that older pro and he let me in. I mean, I knew people around me were juicing, but I didn’t think it was essential to success in this sport. I actually thought people that used steroids were just cheating and that I could contend with them naturally if I trained hard enough

AE: Seems like you have a good work ethic unlike a lot of current pros. Ok, so what was your first cycle and what sort of gains did you see.

Mr. X: First cycle was Sustanon redijects (500mgs) from Mexico and Deca redijects (400mgs). I put on about 30 pounds in 10 weeks, which was almost entirely lean muscle mass. So after gaining 30 pounds in 10 weeks, which is more than I had put on in the last few years, I was hooked. How the fuck could I go back to being natural when I had experienced this sort of advanced growth?

AE: What was your diet like when you were putting on this weight?

Mr. X: Well I knew from early on that calorie intake was the key, the older professional would remind me of guys like Strydom who claimed to be eating 10K calories per day. So I was stuffing myself. I would eat maybe 5K calories per day, and at this point I was trying to eat clean but I did let myself eat fast food like hamburgers and pizza. I wasn’t eating ice cream and candy, but I was eating just about any high calorie high protein thing I could find. That was probably my biggest expense, hell, it still is. You wouldn’t want my food bill man.

AE: Fast-forward to today, what does your drug intake look like. Do you run cycles or are you always on?

Mr. X: Before I tell you what I take, everyone reading this should remember that what I take works for me, it probably won’t work for them. There are guys who use a lot less then me and guys who use a lot more. My drug profile is not what is indicative of all bodybuilders at my level, it is just what I have to use to compete.

I use a heavy base of testosterone, anywhere from 1-1.5 grams of testosterone per week. I don’t care what I am using, if I have access to shorter acting testosterone it means I have to take more frequent shots so I do prefer longer acting ones like T-200. With that base I always run either deca or EQ at around 400-600mg per week. I will switch between anadrol, dianabol, and trenbolone acetate doing each one for about 30 days in duration.

Something people should think about is that bodybuilders rarely sit around and discuss what they use, and if they do, its hard to know if you are getting a straight answer or not. Bodybuilders are notoriously insecure people and most guys think that if they reveal their exact stack to you then you have a leg-up on them in competition. Be that as it may, a lot of the people in bodybuilding believe that most athletes use a lot more drugs then they do, with the possible exception of insulin and growth hormone

AE: Glad you brought those 2 drugs up, can you go into more depth on their use? I think those 2 drugs are some of the most misunderstand drugs in the sport.

If you look at bodybuilders in the 80s through the 90s what you see an amazing increase in size and hardness of athletes. I attribute most of this additional size to the use of insulin and these athletes ability to stay hard at that size to incredible amounts of growth hormone. The dosages of steroids didn’t really change that much from the mid-80s to now, but what did really change was the use of insulin and GH. With the exception of my very first cycle of steroids, I have never had anything put muscle on me like insulin did.

AE: Can you be more specific on dosages of insulin and GH?

Mr. X: As far as insulin goes I use at least 40 IU’s per day and I know guys who use a hell of a lot more then I do. With GH, well I use as much as I can afford which means I am running 8-10 IUS per day for 6 days a week. This is obviously very expensive since the best deal you are going to find on GH is 450 bucks for 126 IU’s. Most of the top guys are reported to use about 18 IU’s of GH per day. But again this is something of a guess on my part, I don’t want to spread rumors, but if you look at the difference in the quality of physiques in the pro level and the top amateurs you have to see that something extra is happening on the pro level beyond even the issue of genetics.

AE: Speaking of genetics, how crucial is that to success in this sport.

Mr. X: 100%! If you don’t have the genetics, you can take 5 grams of testosterone per week and 18 fucking IU’s of GH per day and still have the body of Chris Rock.

The lure of bodybuilding is that everyone is going to look like a Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman or Lee Priest. And that’s what the whole supplement industry wants you to believe because that is what sells magazines, supplements, protein bars you name it. They are selling you something that you can never have if you are like 99 percent of the people out there. Bodybuilding is just like any other sport, you take the top guys in the NBA like Jordan or O’Neil every young kid who plays basketball probably idolizes these guys and wants to be just like them. The truth is, without the right genetics, all the right eating, supplementation, training, and drugs aren’t going to make you into something you genetically cannot be.

I have to laugh when I read in bodybuilding magazines about these workout routines that the professionals are supposedly writing about. Bottom line, Ronnie Coleman doesn’t train any different then most of the people reading this article. I am sure he trains heavier but that is more a function of his structure and genetics and drugs then anything else. People are always asking me what exercises I do for this body part or that body part and then they seem disappointed when I tell them I do the same things they do. I am genetically gifted, I have a bright future in bodybuilding. That doesn’t make me any better then the next guy in the gym, it just means I got lucky.

AE: How are you supporting yourself in this sport?

Mr. X: Are you asking me if I suck dick for a living? No, I didn’t have to go that route but I know some guys who have. It’s a general misconception about up and coming bodybuilders that they are all sleeping with older wealthy gay guys to get enough money to turn pro. Like I said, I know a few guys who have gone that route, but bodybuilding isn’t like a heroin addiction. You don’t see a whole lot of 290lb guys offering to suck your dick for 5 bucks so they can take their next shot of sustanon. There are plenty of legitimate ways to support a bodybuilding career, I do a lot of personal training. I do have a few guys who sponsor me because they think I may turn pro.

AE: Are they guy?

Mr. X: Probably, I don’t know, I don’t ask them. It’s none of my business and they have always been very professional and never done anything weird. Just like a hot woman can find a lot of rich straight guys who give her lots of gifts and money, you will find a lot of well-built bodybuilders getting the same kind of treatment from wealthy homosexuals. If taking someones money for appreciating my physique without sleeping with him or blowing him makes me a prostitute, I guess I’m a prostitute. Bottom line, I appreciate that there are people out there who are willing to support me in what I am trying to do and their sexual orientation doesn’t make any difference to me.

AE: Lets go back to drugs for a minute, ok? There is obviously a huge difference between your average steroid user and someone at your level. Is there is a difference in what these 2 types of users are doing? Also, is there anything you see on in future of bodybuilding drugs?

 

[Mr_Magoo]

Last issue we presented the first part of our interview with a top level NPC competitor. This is the second segment of a three part interview.. I think it’s a pretty fascinating look at what takes place in the upper echelons of competitive bodybuilding. Enjoy.

AE: Lets go back to drugs for a minute, ok? There is obviously a huge difference between your average steroid user and someone at your level. Is there is a difference in what these 2 types of users are doing? Also, is there anything you see on in future of bodybuilding drugs?

Mr. X: I always have to laugh when I am asked questions like this. Bodybuilding is filled with two kinds of people. Those that know the truth and those that think they know the truth. I know the truth, simply because I’m here man, I see what goes on and know from experience what it takes to get here. And the truth is, I don’t do anything different than the 99 guys out of 100 that never make it. I’ve been blessed, that’s it.

I wish I could sit here and tell you that I knew about some secret drug or stack that everyone at this level uses. It sure would sound a hell of a lot sexier than me telling you I’ve got better genetics than most. But that’s always what it comes down to, isn’t it?

To answer your questions directly, I’m not using IGF-1, myostatin, or leptin, and neither is anyone else. And I know plenty of guys that take more drugs than I do that look like absolute shit. The only thing that people at my level might do any differently is use GH, I don’t think most guys in the gym are spending that kind of cash. But realistically, GH doesn’t account for the reason why my physique is light years ahead of the next guy. Yeah, that might sound arrogant, but what should I say? I was freaky before I started using GH, now I’m just that much more freaky. If you don’t have it before GH, you ain’t gonna have it with GH either.

Drugs in the future? I would imagine that with the decoding of the human genome and the work that’s being done with myostatin, that’s where the future of bodybuilding lies. Once they develop a gene therapy to combat wasting, it won’t be too long before a bodybuilder manages to get his hands on some and shoots it. And then you’ll be seeing guys that are like something out of a comic book that don’t even have to workout anymore. That’s going to be the ultimate level, and will probably be the worst thing that could ever happen to bodybuilding. Where’s the sport in injecting yourself and sitting on the couch all day? The guys who win shows will be those with the most aesthetic physiques, I mean, can you imagine Flex Wheeler on an anti-myostatin vaccine? He’d blow the doors off everyone else. But like I said, you’re never going to be able to really respect these guys, and that will be the final nail in the coffin. At that point, bodybuilders will really be everything the general public perceives them as, simply creations of drugs and nothing else. And if you had something like this, I’d be the first person to take it.

AE: That is kinda disappointing, it would have been nice if we could have shared some ground-breaking secret with our readers. But, that’s also what I knew you’d say, you’ve never struck me as a bullshit artist.

Mr. X: Hey, if you’d rather I sit here and bullshit you to create some kind of sensationalistic prose, we can do that. But I’d rather give it to you straight, you know what I mean?

AE: Well, I appreciate you candor, even if it’s not going to result in this being a Pulitzer Prize winning piece (laughing). Let’s switch gears for a minute. You’re obviously a very knowledgeable guy, yet you have a coach. Why?

Mr. X: Most of the top bodybuilders now have a coach, which to an outsider probably seems strange. Then again, these guys suddenly seem to make amazing progress when they hook up with the right coach, so somethings happening, right?

As far as knowledge guys, I’m probably one of the smarter guys in the sport. Which basically means I know that most of what people believe is bullshit. I use a coach more for pre-contest prep more than anything else, because like everyone else, I need someone to hold my hand during this period. Look, when your dieting and seeing all that weight coming off, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t start second guessing themselves. I know I start to panic the moment the diet begins because I’ve got it in my head that any time I’m losing weight, I’m taking two step back. So a coach for me is someone to tell me what I’m doing is ok, and to help keep me on track. Obviously that most important part of finding a coach is actually getting hooked up with someone who knows what the hell they’re talking about, which is why you’re my coach (Jason Meuller conducted this interview). They say that the most important measure of a person’s intellect is how much they agree with you, and you and I agree about most things. Which means you’re a fucking genius (laughing). But seriously, you’re able to keep me on track when I’m freaking out, which is what I need in a coach.

Now, most bodybuilders in the game are not as knowledgeable as myself, and they’ve got coaches getting down to minutiae, like how to hold your dick when taking a leak. I don’t know if you’ve got any clients like this, but it’s got to fucking drive you nuts if you do. I’ve seen guys freak out more and more as the day of the contest approaches and start asking the most idiotic questions like how many sips of water should I take backstage, like that matters on any level. In fact, if you watch the Battle for the Olympia 2000, you’ll see Ronnie Coleman asking Chad Nichols that exact question. I hope Chad’s getting paid well, cause it seems to me he’s nothing but a big babysitter. Then again, almost all of his clients make amazing progress, so he must be doing something right.

AE: Yes, I’ve got some clients like this, and it can be maddening at times, especially when the phone is ringing 10 times per day. But, that’s why I make the big bucks, right? Tell me, what do you think of the claims made of a lot of bodybuilders that contests are rigged?

Mr X: Ha! Tell me, when’s the last time you watched a contest and couldn’t pick out the top 10 in less than 5 minutes? I can’t remember the last time I’ve watched a contest where the results were that far off from what I expected. I’m not saying I can pick places 1-10 every time, but I’ve never seen a situation where the guy I had 10th won the contest. Basically I think allegations like this are nothing but sour grapes on the part of the competitors themselves, or the competitor’s fans. In the latter case, I sometimes feel sorry for the guy competing, but often times the sins of his fans are placed on his shoulders. Take a guy like Lee Priest. Structurally, Lee’s weak in a lot of areas, and he’d probably be the first person to admit this. Yet his fans will protest vehemently every time he doesn’t take first, making claims that judging is totally political and that Lee won’t ever win because he doesn’t kiss enough ass or suck enough dick, whatever. If there are guys sucking dicks to win shows, I’d feel really bad for them since I think it would be a wasted effort. It’s not like there’s one fag deciding the whole show, there’s a panel of judges deciding the outcome. And since I seriously doubt that the whole judging panel is a group of homosexuals who are waiting to get blown by one guy so they can give him the title, I don’t know why bodybuilders even make claims like this. It’s bad for the sport.

I recently read an interview with Kevin Levrone where he stated he was the real Mr. Olympia and that he actually won the last Mr. O. Give me a fucking break. Kevin has great legs, arms, chest, and shoulders, but has one of the weakest backs in the sport. If Kevin actually believes he can beat Coleman, he needs to look at some back comparisons. Coleman is flawless from behind, and probably has the best overall package from the back that’s ever been seen in bodybuilding. Kevin, wake up and smell the shit you’re shoveling pal, you’ll never beat Ronnie. I have to give Kevin credit, he’s a great bodybuilder. And maybe the interview that appeared in Flex was edited to make it more controversial than it actually was. But if Kevin actually does believe he beat Ronnie, he’s fucking insane. It’s comments like those made by Kevin, if he actually made them, and others by guys like Flex that are bad for this sport because it makes people actually believe that bodybuilding is all about politics. It’s kind of hard to get excited about competing if you can be made to believe that you’ve got to suck dick or kiss ass to win a show

 

[Mr_Magoo]

AE: So, what’s the hardest part about being a bodybuilder?

Mr. X: Without a doubt, it’s the eating man. That’s the killer. People have no idea the commitment it takes to consume food day after day in the fashion that’s required to carry this much muscle. It’s a bitch, and there are times when I wonder if it’s worth it.

AE: Is it? Worth it I mean?

Mr. X: Show me a top bodybuilder and I’ll show you someone with severe emotional or mental problems. All the guys I know at my level or above feel the same way I do to some degree or another, constantly wondering if the abusive nature of this sport is all worth it at the end of the day. For me, being this size is how I now identify myself. It’s how people relate to me, which can be sometimes good, and sometimes bad. But whatever the reaction, I’m always the center of attention wherever I go. And that constant attention, that constant gratification, is a really big reason why most guys suffer through the shit they do.

Bodybuilders are really the only athletes that wear their sport. No matter where I go, no matter if someone has no idea what the hell bodybuilding is, someone is going to do a double take when they see me. If I walk into a room with Russell Crowe nipping at my heels, people are going to say two things. “Holy shit, it’s Russell Crowe!” And then they’re going to say, “And did you see the size of that huge sumbitch that walked in before him?” It’s like instant celebrity.

Of course, being this size has more than its fair share of negatives. I am rarely taken seriously by anybody, at least on an intellectual level. Let me put it in perspective. If Abraham Lincoln was my size, history wouldn’t remember him for anything other than being big. I could win the Pulitzer and people would say, “Damn, he’s big!” When you’re this size, people tend to focus only on the physical part of you, and don’t notice anything else.

So is it worth it? For a lot of very shallow reasons, yes. You’re the guy that every other guy secretly wants to be. You’re the guy that every girl secretly wants to be with, if only for one night. Little kids, God bless ‘em, are sometimes a huge source of amusement because they immediately say whatever pops into their minds. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a kid point and say something about me, only to watch the parents become horrified as they follow juniors finger. No one ever starts out in this sport really knowing what it’s going to be like when you get to the top. And yeah, I’m not at the top yet, but I’m pretty advanced. Over the years, through consistency and a lot of hard work, guys like me will continue to get better and better, and then the accolades start. What may have seemed crazy yesterday may not seem crazy three months from now because you’re constantly pushing that envelope for the next 2-3 lbs of muscle. If someone had shown me a video of what would be required for me to look like this when I first started lifting, I would have ran out of the gym and taken up badminton. But, because you’re introduced to things over a very long period of time and at a gradual pace, even guys like myself learn to accept it.

AE: So, have their been times when you’ve just wanted to quit and maybe pursue that badminton career?

Mr. X: Most definitely, most definitely. I’m not fool, I know that the extremes of bodybuilding have very serious negative health consequences. The older I get, the more that worries me. As a bodybuilder, you start to view your body in an entirely different way than the average person. People who are health conscious will take care of themselves because they know that their body is part of them, and by keeping it healthy, they’ll live a longer and more satisfying life. Not me. I view my body as a commodity, a tool that I use to achieve my goals. I identify “ME” as being everything from the neck up. Everything from the neck down is an art project if you will, maybe a sculpture that I work on every day. And I know if I work diligently enough, I’ll get what I want in the end.

AE: And what is that? What do you want in the end?

Mr. X: Christ, what is this, 60 Minutes? Up until now it’s been all peaches and cream, now I feel like I’m being interrogated by the fucking Spanish Inquisition. I’ll say it before, and I’ll say it again, “I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” Shit, sorry. You know, that’s a good question. Ask just about any bodybuilder in my shoes that question, you’re going to get the same answer. Money. Which is kinda funny because bodybuilding is probably one of the worst sports to go into if you want to make real money. I mean, as far as professional athletics go, bodybuilding is definitely at the bottom of the pay scale. But, I’m certain I can make a living in this sport for one reason. I can think. Taking a break from our interview, you know we goof on bodybuilders all the time. How some of the top guys in the sport are the dumbest fucks we’ve ever met. If they’re pulling down green, I should be able to clean up. Look at Shawn Ray. He’s parlayed his bodybuilding career into a little empire. And Shawn isn’t doing that by winning shows, his prize money isn’t what’s buying him Diablos and huge houses. He’s a savvy businessman, and he’s got enough upstairs to take what he makes and make it work for him. That’s gonna be me.

AE: Let’s get back to actual bodybuilding for a moment. So what’s your off season nutrition and training like?

Mr. X: Let’s see. Off season nutrition goes a little like this. I shop at one of those big warehouse places and buy meat like I’m stocking up for a nuclear war. I then go home and throw the meat in a freezer I bought just to store meat, the normal freezer attached to my fridge doesn’t have enough space. I’m buying lean ground beef, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, ground turkey, and top sirloins. Needless to say, my grocery bill is a killer. Every day it’s the same routine, 6-8 meals, focusing primarily on protein. There are days when I get 8 meals in, but that’s rare. Eating for me is just like anything else. There’s bad days, average days, and really good days. There have been many times in the past when I ate whatever the hell I wanted, hell, I used to eat McDonalds right before going to the gym and end up puking Big Macs all over the place. Now I pretty much stick to eating clean. Well, let me rephrase that. By no means is eating 12 oz of ground beef clean, even very lean ground beef is going to have a helluva lot of fat. I’ll usually try to get a potato or rice in with that, at which point I’m ready to pop. But, I usually can’t even stomach the thought of fast food anymore, eating period is a sore subject for me. I’ve found it’s easier for me to stay in shape in the off season if I stay away from the fast food and pizza, I know I’m very carb sensitive. On a normal day, I’m eating 3-4 meals and drinking 3-4 shakes. I’ll usually hit a shake every other meal, that way I’m not eating back-to-back solid food meals. I don’t count calories, off season it’s simply a function of how much food I can possibly cram down my gullet. This leaves me looking like a pregnant hippo for the majority of the day, but that’s what it takes for me.

AE: So, what changes come contest time?

Mr. X: Honestly, not a whole lot. I simply reduce the intake of food. Hey, everybody’s different. I know guys who eat nothing but fast food in the off season and they really have to clean it up come show time. Me? At first it’s like someone took the weight of the world off my shoulders. I don’t have to force feed myself!! Meals become a lot more regimented, I’m weighing out portions so I have a really accurate idea of how many calories I’m consuming. But overall, it’s the same foods, just in much smaller quantities.

Eventually I go crazy like everyone else. Off season, I can eat whatever I want. Which isn’t to say that I do, but the security of knowing that I can seems to satiate those cravings. It isn’t until you know that you can’t give in to the cravings that it really starts to kick your ass. There are times when I won’t even go to the store, I make my girlfriend go for me. God forbid I take a left turn down the ice cream aisle, can we say clean-up on aisle 5?

AE: Are there ways in which your pre-contest prep differs from some of your competitors?

Mr. X: Yes, and you know damn well what it is. I’m a big fan of osmotics.

AE: Why?

Mr. X: Because unlike diuretics, they only pull water from the extra-cellular fluid. Diuretics pull from everywhere, and it’s really easy to end up looking flat on stage.

AE: So how do you use these drugs?

Mr. X: Honestly, that’s the one thing I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about, simply because it’s way too complicated a subject for me to cover in an interview and you know it. My fear is that someone would use them in the wrong way and get into trouble because their blood pressure got way too high. That’s the biggest safety concern with using osmotics, and unless you really know what the hell you’re doing, you’re asking for trouble. Maybe you should write an article on them for a future issue of your mag.

AE: Maybe. Well friend, I appreciate the time, and wish you all the luck in the world in your upcoming shows. I’ll see you on the flip side.

Mr. X: It’s been a pleasure. Just keep my identity a secret or I’ll be on your doorstep with a baseball bat.